


Skeletons Shouldn't Have Ghosts

by CrimsonFandomTrash



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depressed Sans, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, HP is HoPe, Hurt/Comfort, Papyrus Knows More Than He Lets On, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sans Remembers Resets, Worried Papyrus, fanfic contest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 08:32:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonFandomTrash/pseuds/CrimsonFandomTrash
Summary: Sans and Pap both need a good cry, a hug, and a nap.





	Skeletons Shouldn't Have Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Undertale/Undertail Fan fiction contest on tumblr! Specifically the hurt/comfort category.   
> https://undertailfanficcontest.tumblr.com/post/162891347475/undertailundertale-fanfic-contest <<< original post here. 
> 
> I'm nervous because this is the first contest I'm entering, I just hope even if I don't win, I at least get some good feedback. ^_^** I've been working on this for like two or three hours.
> 
> I would like to add that I wrote this entire thing on my phone, and that is no easy feat. To the other people writing on your phones, I feel bad for your thumbs. They must feel dead by the end of the day, surely.

When he was younger, Sans used to read stories to Papyrus to go to sleep. Stories with happy endings. Night after night, hearing the conflict in the stories get resolved brought a wave of relief to Sans’ soul. Hope for the future. He dreamed of the surface, he dreamed that Papyrus would be raised there with the rolling fields of grass, the clear, blue skies. The sun shining down on them. Star lit skies in the countryside, miles away from people as the night sky danced in front of them unlike anything they'd ever seen on the ceilings Underground, fresh air, infinite space to roam. Freedom. Dreams of a happy ending were what kept the small skeleton going most days. 

 

He loved his brother more than anything else in this world, cherished his optimism and fun spirit. At one point in time, it had rubbed off on Sans. 

 

Sans doesn't believe in happy endings anymore. Happy endings just aren't real… 

 

He's gone through more resets than he can count. He can't remember everything, only slight details. It makes it hard to keep track, and he quickly loses count. Loses count of how many times he's seen Snowdin empty and lifeless. Loses count of how many times he's said the same lines of dialogue, over and over. Loses track of how many times he walks to the edge of town to find his younger brother’s scarf lying in the snow, dust blowing through the air… 

 

He vaguely remembers a reset where Papyrus had become King, and the memory of his brother’s eyes haunted him to this day (whatever godforsaken day it was, he couldn't tell anymore, time had lost meaning). Papyrus, despite being a skeleton, was very lively. That timeline, and the others like it, were the only time he'd seen his optimistic younger brother, usually so full of life, look about as dead as… well, a skeleton. He looked more like a ghost… Haunted by the burden he now had to carry… 

 

Seeing Papyrus look so helpless and devoid of hope had Sans begging the kid, despite not knowing where they were, to reset.

 

And if this wasn't the cherry on top of the ‘I fucking give up, just kill me now’ shit-cicle sundae, he didn't know what was. The kid, Frisk… They finally get through the Underground without killing anything. As much of a masochistic move as it is, as they're having the little pow-wow that fucking flower always arranged in these timelines, he has a thought. 

Maybe this will be the last one. 

 

The thought haunts him for months to come- and he knows why. How could he be so… Foolish… As to think that Frisk would stop? Or, if not Frisk, whoever was controlling this… Why would he think that they would stop after seeing so many times before that they didn't know when to? How could he be so dumb? 

 

But, eventually, he forgets that he ever even thought that. The days are going by, turning into months, a year and a half later and Sans is staring at a star lit sky, feeling something he hadn't since those days when he read to his brother. Papyrus is lying beside him, picking out constellations with him as loud and vibrant spirited as ever. He points to a constellation shaped like a spoon and says that it's Orion. Sans laughs. He feels… Happy. Hopeful… 

 

…And then the timeline resets, and for the first time in a long time, it actually hurts. They'd been on the surface for so long, he had forgotten all about the resets. All about the suffering. So, when he wakes up in his bed in Snowdin, he allows his smile to falter. He allows tears to cascade down his skull, his soul caught in his nonexistent throat as he sobs. Papyrus knocks on the door, and he doesn't even bother to cover it up with a pun. He's unsure what his younger brother is saying, or how long Papyrus had been in the room before he rushed over to his older brother’s side. What he does know is that the only kind of comfort he can have right now is to be in his brother’s arms before he dies later that day, dust blowing away in the wind as if to taunt him, and drill it into his head even deeper that Papyrus was always a target.

 

When his erratic breathing has calmed down, as well as his wracking sobs, all he's doing is thinking, and shaking. His bones rattle quietly, and Papyrus isn't letting go of him. He's rocking Sans gently, holding him closely, similar to what Sans used to do when he was a babybones and the big kids beat them both up. “You're okay, brother, I've got you…” He's cradling Sans close as his older brother’s bones shake.

 

There's something about the uncharacteristic quietness of Papyrus’ voice that's soothing to the shorter skeleton. His younger brother’s phalanges gently stroke his skull in slow, even patterns. Sans can feel himself nodding off, but he's too scared to fall asleep. So he stays in Papyrus’ arms on the brink of passing out from emotional exhaustion, his bones still rattling. As long as he's shaking, Papyrus doesn't let go of him. Even twenty minutes later, when the younger brother would have normally grown impatient. 

 

He wants to say something, but he can't. All he can hear is his thoughts, his bones rattling, and his brother, whenever he decides to speak. He finally manages a sentence after extended silence. “I'm so tired, Papyrus…”

 

“I know, Sans…” Papyrus is speaking so quietly that you could have heard a pin drop. “I don't… Know what's making you so sad, and I'm not quite sure how to help, but I want you to know that I'm here for you, always… You can talk to me, I… I'm not a baby anymore, and I want to help you, Sans.”

 

Sans feels his eye sockets go dark as he hears a sound. Just a faint sound. And that's when he realizes that Papyrus is crying, too. He looks up at his younger brother, orange tears spilling out of the other’s sockets as he's wiping them away with his glove. “Pap…”

 

“I'm sorry, I just…” Papyrus isn't even trying to hide the fact that he's crying. “I'm always scared of losing you, brother… What if a human showed up…? You- you don't have th-that much HP, they could… Kill y-you, and I…”

 

Sans couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen Papyrus cry. He was happy go lucky all the time, Sans had never heard anything like this out of him before. His little brother was rattling almost worse than he was, and he was crying over the hypothetical of losing him… “Pap…” He doesn't have anything else to say. He hugs Papyrus close, like the other had been doing for him a moment ago. Papyrus is clinging to his older brother like a scared child. And now they're both crying. 

 

“I know, it's stupid… I mean, we've lived this long without anything happening to you, right…?”

 

Papyrus couldn't remember the incident that happened back before of all of this. No one could remember that but him. Another burden to bare. He silently wondered where Gaster was right now… “Yeah.” Sans lied. He heaves a sigh, starting to shake again. Papyrus is mostly finished with his fit, so he's back to holding Sans protectively while wiping leftover rogue tears away. “Bro, will you nag me if I take a nap…? I'm, uh… I'm tired.”

 

Papyrus took note that his brother passed up a pun opportunity. “Sleep, brother… You deserve some rest.” He holds Sans closer, who's situating himself in the crook of Papyrus neck. “Even if a human comes today… You're more important than being in the Royal Guard…”

 

Sans doesn't know how to react to that, so he closes his eye sockets, muttering something. “I love you, Pap…”

 

“I love you, too, brother…” Papyrus closes his eye sockets, and Sans feels the other relax. “I love you, so much, big brother…”

 

“I love you, so much, too…”

 

Sans sleeps without nightmares, and Papyrus manages to get some sleep, as well.

 

When the older skeleton wakes up, he's pleased to find Papyrus still resting along side him, his breathing slow. His features peaceful. He silently took note of the bags under his younger brother’s eye sockets, and felt a pang in his soul. He wondered why Papyrus didn't sleep often… Was it really because he didn't need to sleep, or was his brother troubled by something so deeply that he couldn't even sleep…? 

 

He decides it doesn't matter right right now. Papyrus is peacefully asleep. Nothing is bothering him right now. He isn't scared for Sans’ safety, or worrying about popularity, and it took Papyrus crying earlier for Sans to realize that the younger skeleton had fears and insecurities, too. 

 

He snuggles back up to Papyrus, closing his eye sockets. Maybe… Maybe this… Would be the last run. Maybe they'd finally get their happy ending. Maybe hope wasn't such a foolish thing to have.

  
He woke up with 2 HP and a human with short brown hair, and a blue and pink sweater laughing at his whoopee cushion.


End file.
